UNDP’s Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (J-CCCP) Project has ended its Knowledge Sharing Tour in Saint Lucia. In 2018, the Project hosted a study tour to Japan where more than 20 Caribbean agricultural practitioners toured agricultural sites there, including three Saint Lucians.
Following this tour, and given that more than half of the pilot projects implemented through J-CCCP are focused on sustainable agriculture, the Project invited experts from the International Nature Farming Research Centre (INFRC) in Japan to share their knowledge, toward building the practice of organic farming in the region.
Prior to the Saint Lucia stop, the experts also visited the Commonwealth of Dominica where more than 100 farmers benefited from hands-on nature farming training. In Saint Lucia, the experts will be joined by agriculturalists from J-CCCP’s eight beneficiary countries. In this session, Japanese experts and regional practitioners will learn from each other.
Jameson Alphonse, who joined the Japan-Caribbean Study Tour, participated in the training and reflected on how the study tour enhanced his knowledge and his technological application. He cited his use of light for growing in vertical structures, multi-cropping to control pest and weeds and the application of plant factor modules – growing vertically – as benefits of his Japan experience. Jameson’s farm now features these techniques, while being solar powered – an important consideration given his use of artificial light.
UNDP’s Programme Manager for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Resilience, Danielle Evanson noted her regard for the practicality of the approach. She remarked, “We are excited to see the adoption of knowledge and technologies which J-CCCP has promoted over their years of implementation. This knowledge sharing tour and the preceding study tour have evidently piqued the interest of participants and ignited implementation.”
J-CCCP is a regional initiative working in eight Caribbean countries. The programme of work under the J-CCCP is in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme with funding from the Government of Japan.